Abstract

Reported finfish landed in the United States Virgin Islands increased from 110,024 pounds to 1,116,282 pounds between 1974 and 1992. The increase in landings occurred mainly between 1974 and 1978. The total number of licensed fishermen in the U.S.V.I. ranged from 281 to 578 between 1974 and 1992. The percentage of reporting fishermen steadily increased varying from 16 % in 1976 to 87% in 1992. Total reeffish effort increased by 43% from 1987 through 1991 with larger increases being observed for St. Croix. The total number of reeffish trips ranged from 8,241 to 15,969 trips between 1987 and 1991 with a decline occurring in only one year, 1989, the year when an intense summer storm swept the island of St. Croix. Fishing effort increases on St. Thomas/St. John were most apparent for the trap fishery.\Biostatistical samples collected between 1983 and 1991 showed a decline in mean individual length for red hind and corroborates earlier reports in declining length of red hind stocks. Coney mean size was more variable and did not indicate strong trends in size. Declining trends in red hind sample average weight were observed after 1990 for both trap and hook and line gears.\Coney were rarely observed in any of the years in the aggregate catch samples. Red hind contributed on average from 67% to 99% of the total catch landed and from 88% to 99% of the total weight landed. The fishery sampling rate ranged on average from one to six percent, as measured in terms of fishing trips.\Red hind catch per effort (CPUE) per trip increased steadily between 1984 and 1990 in both catch and weight while coney CPUE consistently declined. CPUE trends in weight were more stable than were CPUE trends in catch. Over the period, 1984 through 1990, declines in coney abundance were thought to have been at least 20 % by number and 29 % by weight; coney abundance declines are more dramatic if the CPUE data from 1991 and 1992 are also used. Total landed weight and catch were dominated by the trap fishery for both species. Total fishery landings of red hind by trap gear ranged from 82% to 96% by weight and 79% to 96% by number between 1987 and 1991 while trap gear accounted for over 95% of total landings between 1987 and 1990 for coney.\Red hind current resource status off St. Croix was investigated using a maximum likelihood estimation model that incorporated fishing effort, sample average weight, and fishery yield into abundance estimation. Red hind fishing mortality increased between 1987 and 1991, from 0.5 to 0.9, providing further support for concern for this resource. Total abundance of red hind was variable without strong trend over the period.

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